-Deccan Chronicle Under the stewardship of Union rural development minister Nitin Gadkari, things are looking far from good for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the 2005 law passed with cross-party support under UPA-1 that came to be hailed as the world's largest rural job guarantee scheme although, at home, some fair criticisms were also levelled at the way the project worked on the ground. The critics pointed to...

-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: As a headless Central Information Commission (CIC) controversially celebrates nine years of the transparency law behind closed doors, there are indications that the CIC chief's absence has already dented the watchdog's autonomy. Being without a chief has placed the commission on a weak legal footing. According to documents accessed under the RTI law, the government has taken control over the CIC's purse strings and placed them in...

-The Financial Express The proposed MGNREGA changes can help plug the leakages and enhance agriculture productivity There is good news about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme. Recent press reports reveal that the rural development minister, Nitin Gadkari, has instructed lowering of the mandatory share for unskilled wages in total expenditure from the current 60% to 51%. He has also directed, quite rightly, that 50% of the expenditure be...

-The Times of India BATHINDA (Punjab): Activists of farmers' body BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) and farm labourers' outfit Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union went to the office of Bathinda deputy commissioner and submitted the list of 99 peasants, who had committed suicide in the district in 18 months between April 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014. Families of suicide victims also assembled at Bathinda district administrative complex on Monday and sought a compensation...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: The paradox could not be greater. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which had its genesis in the mass movements launched in Rajasthan, is now facing a dilution in its home state. The Union rural development ministry is likely to amend the provisions of MGNREGA, converting it to just a scheme and thereby threatening to rob it of its es sence. In Rajasthan, such an...